The Pre-Start

Westgold released its 2025 R&R statement, with ore reserves now standing at 56Mt at 1.93g/t for 3.5Moz, and resources totalling 16.3Moz (WGX)
Brazilian Rare Earths has been issued the final regulatory permit for its beneficiation & hydromet pilot plan, which are expected to start in mid-26 (BRE)
Rox shared an update on development work at Youanmi, with dewatering making progress and underground mining + ramp-up expected to start in Q2 CY26 (RXL)
Ardea has executed a heritage agreement with the Marlinyu Ghoorlie native title group to progress the DFS (ARL)
Drilling at Turaco’s Begnopan has returned results including 8m at 6.36g/t Au from 105m, with mineralisation from surface along 3km of drilled strike (TCG)
Astral provided results from a 19-hole in-fill program at its Iris deposit at Mandilla, with a 99-hole program at Theia now underway (AAR)
Sun Silver shared drilling results from Maverick Springs, with a headline result of 54.1m at 137g/t AgEq from 230m (SS1)
New Murchison published assays from regional prospects, hitting 20m at 3.36g/t from 49m at Airstrip (NMG)
Boab has received EPBC approval for Sorby Hills (BML)
St George released assays from RC drilling in Brazil, with results including 41m at 4.52% TREO and 0.87% Nb₂O₅ from surface (SGQ)
Bellevue has appointed Leigh Junk as a non-exec director (BGL)
Many Peaks has appointed Matthew Scully as exec director and COO (MPK)
Trium Capital has lifted its Warriedar stake to 6.1% (WA8)

High Grade It

South32’s CEO said Trump’s America was better for business than Australia, blasting years lost to approval panels over experts (Australian)
Gold held a six-day rally that pushed prices to an all-time high, as the prospect of US interest-rate cuts boosted the metal’s appeal (Bloomberg)
Another D-Day looms for Mt Isa as Dyno Nobel prepares to meet its stated deadline to either sell or close its Phosphate Hill mine and fertiliser project by the end of this month (Australian)
The Trump administration announced plans for competitive coal lease sales this year in many states as part of a broad government effort to bolster domestic coal production (Reuters)
Chile’s copper giant Codelco is warning that national production could stagnate at about 5.5Mtpa as the industry faces mounting challenges (Mining.com)
Dual-listed Marimaca has booked a non-deal roadshow to kick start its ASX listing (AFR)

Drillers Wanted! Hit pay dirt with your career. K-Drill is hiring: time to sink your teeth into your next chapter here.

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

Firebird has agreed to partner with Taza, one of 3 ex-China high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate producers, to advance R&D (FRB)

Rattlin’ the Tin

BHP priced 2 bond offerings, totalling US$1.5B, split over US$500m and US$1B, with 10 and 30 year maturities, paying 5% and 5.75% respectively (BHP)
Lotus is out to raise $70m to help it ramp up Kayelekera (AFR, LOT)
AuKing shared that Nebari has satisfied a key milestone condition under its $8m credit facility (AKN)
The exercise of options has seen Torque add $2.8m to its cash position (TOR)
Black Canyon is in trading halt to raise capital (BCA)
EQ Resources completed a $22.5m raising (EQR)

Word on the Decline

In early May, we caught wind that South32’s Cannington could be on the chopping block. At the time, we didn’t think much of it…
South32 has made some dubious divestments over the last few years, but surely they wouldn’t divest the crown jewel, right…?
Well, four months later we think we shouldn’t have been so dismissive of the intel.
It’s pretty apparent from S32’s results commentary last week that management believes the glory days are well and truly over.

And yesterday we heard suggestions that another divestment for the diversified miner is well-progressed…. Could it be Cannington?
Imagine the interest from the silver bugs if it were the sole asset in an ASX company…

Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.

In the Weeds

Paul Moore: The only true arbitrage in markets is time (podcast) Long gold miners (Newmont) for the first time in his career
How Zambia’s largest copper mine became a pillar of national gold reserves (CopperBeltKatanga)
How much gold will be enough to diversify China's reserves? (Reuters)